How I Met My Fathers
by CE Winters
Summary: When out with Harmony and Sugar, Rory Hummel-Anderson meets a woman who has a thing to say about how he's living his life.The next morning he wakes up in an era that isn't his.He must live through his parents highschool years to learn an important lesson.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: This is a story having to do with the popular tumblr theory (I'll call it a theory, though there might be a better word) that believes Rory, Sugar, and Harmony to be Klaine's, Brittana's, and Faberry's respective children. I've been watching a lot of How I Met Your Mother, hence the title. Even though Kurt and Rory obviously aren't a ship - I don't think I can think of them as one after writing this *creys* - and Rory will have a relationship with someone else, that someone else isn't a main character until a while later, while Kurt and Rory are the most main characters right now. I might change it later._

_Warnings and pairings upfront, because I know some are deal breakers or deal makers for some people :) If you don't want Rory's love interest to be spoiled, skip over this; I'll never mention it again in an author's note, so it'll still be a surprise._

Warnings_: Slash is the biggest one, obviously. Also, underage drinking, physical abuse via bullies, and other similiar issues like that, that Glee deals with on a pretty regular basis._

Pairings_: Klaine, Faberry, Brittana, highschool!Finchel (as it is now in canon), Sory, possibly others that are slipping my mind but I'll come back and add later if need be ^^_

_Enjoy!_

* * *

><p><em>When I was fifteen, I thought I knew how everything in the world worked. I thought I knew about love, even though I had never been with anyone before. I thought I knew about friendship – I had two best friends that I spent every moment I could with. I thought I knew about my parents – they were your typical protective, embarrassing, overly-affectionate type, who came to every sports game and recital, and volunteered to be the room parents every year. I also didn't believe in fate, or extra-realities. As such, I definitely didn't believe in circular time, even though Papa and I have watched every episode of Doctor Who – yes, every episode – and I must have seen <em>Back to the Future_ too many times to count. But I'll get to that later._

_ All of that changed in a single day. It all started on Halloween of the year 2033. That was when everything I knew suddenly began to morph into something else. I learned about life. I learned about friendship. I learned about fate. Most important, I learned about love. _

_ My name is Rory Hummel-Anderson, and this is the story of how I met my fathers._

* * *

><p><em>New York City, 2033<em>

Over the years, Rory had perfected the puppy face. It was one of the things he had inherited from his Papa. His Daddy always said that Rory inherited his Papa's smile, presence, and puppy eyes, while he had his Daddy's looks. Now, he was giving both of his fathers his best puppy face.

"It isn't even sunset yet," Rory explained. "I'll make it to their hotel before night and I can stay the night so I won't have to come back in the dark!"

"Rory," began Blaine, Rory's Papa, "I'm not sure. It's a tradition for you to come trick-or-treating with us and Seamus."

"Papa, I'm a sophomore in _high school_," Rory begged. "Ever since Aunt Santana and Aunt Brittany moved away to California, Harmony and I hardly ever get to see Sugar!"

Blaine bit his lip and Kurt fixed their son with a level gaze. He wasn't sure where Rory got his direct persuasive approach from. He had always gotten what he wanted in a more sneaky way, and Blaine usually took his dues without complaint. Perhaps it was a perfect mix of their two personalities that had made Rory what he was. Four years after Kurt and Blaine had gotten married, science had one of its biggest breakthroughs ever. It had allowed same sex parents to have their own, biological children. Immediately after the initial tests, Kurt, Blaine and their two closest same sex couple friends had put their names on the list.

Nine months later, as Rachel and Quinn welcomed Harmony and Brittany and Santana welcomed Sugar, Kurt and Blaine welcomed Rory. Rory was, of course, right about Sugar and Harmony. They did need to spend time together while they could. They'd been practically inseparable since birth.

Kurt turned to exchange a brief look with Blaine. Fatherhood had been good to Blaine. He was level-headed, fair, and good-tempered. As he fixed Seamus in his tiny Dalton blazer, Blaine looked up at his husband and smiled slowly. He shrugged one shoulder as if to say, _what can you do_?

"You can go," Kurt said, raising his eyebrows at Rory as his oldest son jumped and punched the air in victory. "Straight to Santana and Brittany's though Rory, I'm not kidding. New York City can be dangerous, especially on Halloween, and we don't want you getting hurt."

"Aye, aye, Cap'n," Rory said enthusiastically in his best fake Irish accent, tipping his shamrock covered top hat at Kurt.

In spite of himself, Kurt couldn't help but laugh. "You could go into voice-acting with that silly accent one day," he said to Rory, catching his arm to halt his progress and allow him to plant a kiss on his son's forehead before he left.

"Text us when you get there safely," Blaine said, following Kurt's lead and kissing their son's head. "Don't forget!"

"I won't!" Rory promised, giving =his little brother a pat on the head and waving to his two fathers as he left their home.

Kurt and Blaine watched him walk away with beaming faces. "Do you remember when he couldn't even walk?" Blaine reminisced. "He rolled around to get places. We had to block off the stairs in case he rolled down them.

Kurt sighed and wrapped his arms around Blaine's waist. "Do I ever," he said. His head dropped to rest on Blaine's shoulder and he nuzzled his nose into Blaine's sweater. "It doesn't seem like that long ago. Are we really that old?"

"Well, we'll always be young at heart," Blaine said optimistically, lifting a hand to tug on one of the curls of Kurt's wig. Silence settled over the embracing pair. "You don't think we should have dressed Seamus as Tobey, do you?"

"He wanted to wear the blazer," Kurt said with a chuckle, looking over at their toddling son, who was surveying his reflection in a mirror. "Besides, Tobey kills Sweeney. Let's not tempt fate."

"I think you and me as Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney Todd is tempting fate as it is," Blaine laughing, tipping Kurt's face upward to plant a soft kiss on his lips.

"I make a beautiful Helena Bonham Carter!" Kurt protested.

"And I make a _dashing_ Johnny Depp," Blaine said, straightening up and laughing. "That reminds me of the time we dressed up as gay pirates, 'because gay cowboys have already been done, thanks a lot Ang Lee'. I can't believe I let you talk me into this stuff."

"Mmm, but you love it," Kurt said, stealing another kiss.

"Yes," Blaine admitted, reluctantly pulling away and digging up Seamus's trick-or-treating bag. "That I do. Always."

* * *

><p>Half an hour later, Rory was knocking on the door of a hotel room and sending off a quick text to both his Daddy and Papa to confirm his safety. He hardly got a glimpse of his friends between the moment the door swung open and the moment he was suddenly being bombarded by a near bone-breaking hug.<p>

"Sugar," Rory squeaked, out of breath. "It hasn't been _that_ long since we've seen each other."

"Your poufy hair must be sapping the memory reserves from your brain," Sugar said, pulling away and smiling at him. "It's been since Easter holiday."

"She's right." Harmony, a few feet away, was also smiling. "My moms and I went to California once over the summer but we haven't all been together since last spring." She beamed largely and wrapped an arm around each of her friends. "The trio, together again!" Her eyes grew mischievous. "Speaking of our trio, Sugar had a little idea while we were waiting for you."

"I had the idea _ages_ ago, because I'm _awesome_," Sugar informed them. "I only told you about it while we were waiting for Rory." She turned to Rory, face excited. "I know this guy in California," she began.

Rory groaned and broke off from them to walk into the Lopez-Pierce's large hotel rooms and flop onto the nearest couch. "Ideas that begin with 'I know this guy in California' are _never_ good ideas."

"You are such a dud," Harmony said, throwing her hands up.

"Give it a chance," Sugar said. Without waiting for an answer, she continued. "I know this guy in California that specializes in…uhm…well, you know, fraudulent type things."

"No," Rory said immediately.

"_This_ is why you don't have a girlfriend," Harmony informed him, poking Rory on the chest sharply.

"Harmony, give him a chance." At Sugar's request, Harmony held up her hands and sat back. "I called him just in case." Her smile grew. "Just in case the three of us wanted to have a little _fun_ this Halloween."

"Breaking the law is not fun," Rory said. "Inevitably getting caught, thrown in jail for the night, and having to get bailed out by our _parents_ will not be fun."

"We're fifteen," Harmony said. "They won't throw us in jail."

Sugar, not listening, dug in one of her suitcases before shouting, "ah hah!" and pulling out three bits of plastic.

"Please don't tell me those are what I think they are," Rory said, hardly daring to look at the small cards. Carefully, he took the one Sugar offered him and groaned when he saw what was there. "You stole my picture to put on a fake ID. I do _not_ look like a Stephen Phillips!" He looked up at his two friends…his two reckless, impulsive, definitely crazy friends. "I thought Aunt Brittany and Aunt Santana said the hotel was having a youth Halloween party. We were supposed to go to _that_."

"That's where they'll think we are," Sugar explained, "which is the brilliance of my awesome plan. "Your dads and Harmony's moms think that you're here at this hotel, at the youth party. Uncle Blaine and Uncle Kurt will be out with Seamus so they'll be busy. Both of my moms went with Aunt Quinn and Aunt Rachel to _their_ Halloween party…I fail to see where this could go wrong."

Rory stared at Sugar, trying to contemplate which plans her brain saw because his brain saw a million places things could go wrong with this one. But that was how it had always been with the three of them. Sugar was the impulsive one. Harmony was the outgoing one. Rory was the anchor that held them both in place and tried to make sure none of them ended up getting killed. "Where…exactly would we be going?" Rory asked cautiously.

Both Harmony and Sugar let out excited squeals – they knew the battle was won. "I know just the place," Harmony said with a toothy grin.

* * *

><p>"This is <em>not<em> the place," Rory said. The three of them were standing outside of something…a bar, a club; Rory wasn't exactly sure what it was. He, of course, had come with his leprechaun costume on, as he had expected to go downstairs to the youth party. Harmony had changed into her costume – Victoria Grant/Count Victor Grazinski circa "Le Jazz Hot!" Rory didn't think that was the best idea. He wouldn't want people debating the possibility of him being a man or a woman all night. Sugar had pulled out one of her mom's old Cheerios outfits to wear. A leprechaun, a cross dresser, and a cheerleader made a strange group making their way through New York streets on Halloween night.

"Stop thinking for once," Harmony advised him, pulling out her ID, grabbing Rory's arm, and hauling him toward the building.

"Not thinking is what gets people abandoned in gutters half dead," Rory bemoaned. "Oh, my dads are going to kill me."

"You think your dads never did anything fun?" Sugar asked. "Come on Rory, everyone was a teenager once – and _only_ once."

"I am going to regret this…if I live to be able to regret anything ever again," Rory said pessimistically. Two heads were shaken at him, and he tried to adopt his most adult expression as they entered. He gaped after the person at the door as they were allowed to walk through, having barely flashed the fake IDs. "There is no way that we look twenty-one," Rory hissed to his two friends. "That man is tempting fate!"

"You've said hundreds of times that you don't believe in fate," Harmony pointed out, knowing that she had gotten him cornered in the use of a common expression.

"Yes but…uh…"

"Let me tell you something," Sugar said, throwing an arm around Rory's shoulders as they walked. They rounded a corner to be faced with costumed, dancing bodies and flashing lights. "It's a word of advice, if you will. Let go of your sixty year old inner grandma for a few hours, Rory. Just let her go. If you do, this night will be _legendary._"

* * *

><p>"Your <em>face<em> is legendary," Rory informed Sugar over the sound of the music an hour later. "You know, Sug, I've been thinking. I always thought that you had Aunt Santana's cunning but Aunt Brittany's logic. That…_that_ is a formidable combination, because, you know, you can do things but don't think about it. You know? This looks like a Smurf." Rory had broken off of his train of thought and now looked into the depths of blue alcohol in his glass. Sugar, of course, hadn't forgotten the money.

Harmony burst out laughing and shook her head. "Drunk Rory is the best," she told Sugar with a smile.

"Bodies are beautiful," Rory announced suddenly, looking up at the ceiling like it presented him with all of the answers. "I mean they work perfectly…why should they work? Why should walking work? It's like art. It's beautiful! Don't you think so?" He had turned to a woman near him, who had been chatting with her friends. She was in a tiny silver sequined dress, eyes covered in a masquerade mask. "Hi. I'm Rory. I can sing you know. Do you live here? You play awesome music. Although, I have to say, overall I prefer to stick with classics like –"

The woman snickered – rather condescendingly – and turned her back again. "Oh my God," Rory said forlornly. Sugar and Harmony exchanged a half-amused, half-puzzled glance. "Look…at…her…shoulder blades! I want to touch one…"

"No, no, no, no, no," Sugar said, grabbing Rory's hand and pulling him away. Looking up at him, she began giggling, which passed to Harmony and then Rory himself, not dying out for several minutes. "Dance with me, guys!"

She pulled the two onto the dance floor. Soon, everything was bodies and lights and heat and no air. Rory needed air. He couldn't tell which person was Sugar or Harmony or shoulder blade lady, or anyone else. He couldn't tell anything. He stumbled out of the mob of dancing people that he'd gotten pulled into only a few minutes later.

"No thanks," Rory muttered to himself, backing away and keeping an eye out for either of his friends. He sat on a barstool and faced it toward the dancers.

"Wise choice," said a voice from his left.

Rory looked over to see a tall woman lounging against the bar next to him. "Yeah," he breathed, eyes involuntarily looking her up and down. She seemed to stretch on for miles. Right when he looked at one part of her, she swam out of focus. He could only really see her at all if he caught her out of his periphery vision. He wasn't sure what she was dressed as…it could have been anything. He thought she was in black, but when he tried to focus it seemed more green, then when he turned away the light caught it and it seemed purple.

"Headache?" she asked, scooting a bit closer.

"Yeah," Rory repeated quietly, focusing on the sound of her voice. It was as raspy as wind through the leaves, as haunted as a wolf's cry, and yet as quiet as a deserted forest. "I drank things. It was my friend, she –"

"You don't look old enough to be here, Rory," she said, fixing him with her starlight gaze.

"I'm not." Rory spoke the truth without thinking twice, and he didn't think of the consequences. "I'm…my Papa and Dad….but I'm old enough to do what I want. Sugar and Harmony always think I'm being cautious. I don't want my dads to be disappointed with me. But don't they…shouldn't they know that I know what to do with myself? I know what I'm doing."

"I'm sure," she said benignly.

"I'm glad," Rory continued. Vaguely, he realized that he was spilling all of his innermost thoughts, but he wasn't inclined to stop. It was as if the woman had cast a spell over him. "I'm glad I'm here. They think they know me…they think they know that _I_ don't know what's best for me. Well I know what's best."

"Rory, don't you think that they want to protect you?"

"They never would have let me come here. Look! I'm not dead! Coming here was fine! I'm cautious because that's what they've taught me to be, but…I'm not dead!"

"No you aren't," she said emotionlessly. "You think you know better than they do, is that it?"

"Yeah," Rory said defiantly. "Yeah, I do. I think if I was on my own, I would do just fine. I wish I _was_ on my own. I wish I could prove to everybody – Daddy, Papa, Sugar, and Harmony – that I don't always have to be the baby, or the wet blanket. I just wish…"

The woman cocked her head to the side as he faded off. "That's what you wish? You wish to be alone so that you can prove yourself?"

"If only," Rory said, looking out into the crowd.

"If only," she repeated. She caught Rory's gaze with her starlight eyes and lifted a hand to brush his cheek. Suddenly, visions flashed through Rory's head. He was in a school, but not his school in New York. He felt the slam of a locker as he was pushed back, the tug of insecurity in his gut that he always got singing in front of people, and…was that…?

Then it was gone, just like that. Rory jerked away from her hand and stumbled backward, his head reeling. When his brain stopped spinning, he looked up at the woman to see an empty seat. He blinked a few times only to realize that he was no longer tipsy. He didn't feel drunk in least. It was as if it had all vanished, along with the woman. Suddenly, he wanted nothing more than to be anywhere else then where he was.

"Sugar, Harmony," he called as he poked his way along the outside of the dance floor. When he had both of their wrists in his grasp he marched them to the door. "We're leaving," he said. "Something…well, I don't know what happened. There was a woman."

"Rory, did you take something?" Sugar asked him, sounding slightly frightened for the first time all night.

"No," he shot back. "She was there! I couldn't look straight at her, and her voice…her eyes. I'll explain when we get back."

"Just _where_ do you think you're going?" The voice came from nearby, and a big body stepped in front of Rory, blocking his path. Tall as Rory was, he had to look up quite a ways into the familiar eyes, which narrowed at him. "You are in _so_ much trouble."

Rory's eyes widened as he saw who had stopped him. "Uncle Finn," he whispered, dread sinking like a stone in his stomach. For a few blessed moments, he had thought that he would get away from this escapade scot-free. "It's a funny story…"

* * *

><p><em>AN: There is is, the first chapter! :D I honestly have no idea if this idea will even appeal to people, so I'd like to hear what you think so far! This is part one of the main conflict, which will finish being set up in chapter two._

_Thanks for reading! _


	2. Chapter 2

"You are in _so_ much trouble," Finn repeated as he and Rory stepped into the elevator leading up to the Hummel-Anderson's. He'd said the same thing at least a dozen times. "What would possess you to do this, Rory? I know that Sugar and Harmony can be reckless, but I really expected more from you."

"You haven't talked to my dads yet," Rory pleaded. "Don't tell them, Uncle Finn, _please_. I'll never let Sugar and Harmony talk me into doing something stupid again. God, I'm an idiot. I tried to tell them, Uncle Finn, but they wanted to go so badly. I'm _always_ the wet blanket."

Finn's expression softened. "Being responsible and being a wet blanket isn't synom…systemi…they aren't the same things."

"Synonyms," Rory said miserably. "_I _think you've scared me straight, and I've completely learned my lesson. Can you _please _not tell Daddy and Papa? I'm just a teenager, Uncle Finn. Don't tell me that you three didn't do stupid, reckless shit when you were my age."

"Rory, you have _no _idea how good you have it here," Finn said with declining patience. The elevator stopped and the pair exited. "You know, I wish that you knew some of the things that your dads had to go through when they were your age. They didn't have a lot of time do 'stupid shit'…and _don't swear_."

Rory rolled his eyes. He was feeling more indignant by the moment. "Yeah, yeah, I've heard the stories all before: the trials and tribulations of switching to a…wait for it…_public_ school, and the stress of filling out fancy, artistic applications to fancy, artistic colleges so you could all make it out of the back forty. All kids have to do that."

Finn scoffed and shook his head. "I think you've just persuaded me to tell your parents everything." He paused as they reached the door. "They'll already know. Santana knows, which means she'll tell Quinn, which means _she'll _tell Rachel. Rachel will have called Kurt, who obviously will have told Blaine."

Rory made a pathetic whimpering noise. As if in response to it, the door swung open. A furious Kurt stood in the doorway. "Just _what_ were you thinking?" Kurt shouted. His face had reddened and he was standing with his hands braced on the doorframe. "Rory, what got into you?" Kurt's rage seemed to suddenly deflate and he pulled Rory into a hug.

For a few blessed moments Rory thought he had escaped the ordeal in one piece. "You aren't mad?" he whispered.

"Mad? Am I _mad_?" Kurt pulled back and held Rory at arm's length. His countenance was stoic, and that was how Rory knew that the axe had yet to fall. "I'm _furious_. When I get over the sheer shock of how utterly moronic what you did was, Blaine and I are going to have a long talk about what to do with you." Kurt looked away from him. "Go to your room. I need to talk to Uncle Finn."

Rory shot his uncle one last pleading look before entering their large apartment. He felt like he was on a death march as his passed his Papa and little brother. Seamus chortled and beseeched Rory to help count his candy with him. Rory smiled and shook his head, and then looked at his Papa. Blaine's expression was worse than Kurt's had been. Whereas Kurt was angry, Blaine was sad. He looked disappointed, shocked, and betrayed. Rory had to look away. Blaine's expression was threatening to make him tear up.

Feeling sick to his stomach, Rory plopped face first onto his bed. He was disappointed in himself, but at the same time he thought that his parents were overreacting. He was alive after all, and for all they knew, he hadn't drunken anything – he no longer smelled of alcohol, though why, he didn't know.

"Maybe we should wait until tomorrow to talk to him." The voice of Rory's Papa drifted through his door, and Rory scuttled closer to listen.

"_Why _would we do that?"

"You're really mad, Kurt. You and I both know that sometimes, when you're mad, you can say things…"

"I can…I can _say things_? What, _what_ can I say, Blaine?"

"I just don't want you to say anything that you'll regret."

"Anything _I'll_ regret? Blaine, our child just walked through New York at _night_, on _Halloween_, to go to a fucking _bar_."

"Seamus," Blaine said. "Go to your room. I'll be there in a few minutes. Daddy and I just need to talk, okay?" They were silent as their youngest son presumably walked to his room. "Yes," Blaine said finally, "something you'll regret. Don't you remember when we were in high school? It was so easy to do things just because other people wanted you to. When we called her, Santana said that Sugar admitted she'd gotten the IDs, and that Rory hadn't wanted to go along with them."

"But Blaine…" Kurt's voice was quiet and broken. "He's our _son_. I thought we raised him to be able to resist things like that. What if something had happened to him?"

"He's just a kid," Blaine whispered. "We were kids once too, and we just wanted to have fun…to _prove _ourselves. Remember Scandals?"

"Because that was such a _wonderful_ idea," Kurt shot back. "It almost broke us up, and it was about _spite _not fun. Blaine, the point is that we made those mistakes and now we can protect Rory from making them."

"He has to make them himself," Blaine disagreed. "How else will he learn?"

"_Uh_," Kurt said, voice rising in both volume and impatience. "We say, 'don't wander through Manhattan at night when we've expressly said not to, don't give in to peer pressure, and don't go to a fucking _bar_ when you're only a sophomore', and then he learns it! I plan on calling the manager of that godforsaken place tomorrow and having words. We could _sue_ them. Those three don't look a day over seventeen."

"I think that you should call," Blaine agreed, "and I think that Rory needs to get into trouble, but not tonight. It's late, we're all tired, and Rory has already been through a lot."

Kurt was quiet for a few moments. "Maybe you're right," he said finally.

"Ah, come here," Blaine said. "I don't want anything to happen to Rory any less than you do, Kurt. He's a miracle. When we got married, I'd have never thought that it was possible for him to exist."

"Mmm," Kurt muttered. "…Do you think this happened because he came out of Santana?" Kurt and Blaine both began to chuckle and Rory rolled his eyes.

Though his genes belonged to Kurt and Blaine alone, male partners still needed a surrogate. Santana had been his, and no one ever let him forget it.

Rory swung his door open and glared out into the living room. His parents stood in an embrace, Blaine's head on Kurt's shoulder. "Done arguing, then?" Rory asked, sudden anger flooding him.

Kurt and Blaine exchanged a glance, and their smiles faded away. "Go to bed, Rory," Kurt said. "We'll talk tomorrow."

"Might as well get it over with," Rory said, holding out his arms. "Or have you wasted all of your yelling on each other?"

Blaine raised his eyebrows. "Your Dad and I were just talking."

"Talking? Like how you were 'talking' when Seamus got into your art supply drawer and Papa thought it was funny even though _you_ thought he swallowed superglue? 'Talking' like you were when Papa misplaced his old blazer for his twentieth reunion of a school he didn't even graduate from, and thought _you'd_ gotten rid of it?"

"Excuse me," Kurt said, holding up his hands. "_You_ are the one in trouble here, not me. Your Papa and I have disagreements, but families fight. We don't love each other any less – it's _because_ we love each other that we argue and know everything will fine afterward. It's because I love _you_ that I'm mad right now!"

"Sami's parents got a divorce," Rory said bitterly. "She said that they're _all_ happier now."

"Rory!" Blaine said, shocked. "Kurt and I are _not_ getting a divorce. You're acting ridiculous. What has gotten into you?"

"You don't _get_ it," Rory complained, unwanted tears prickling at the corners of his eyes. "You don't ever want me to have any fun because you're both so straightedge." Kurt rolled his eyes dramatically and Blaine had to cover a chuckle. "I'm _serious_. I wish I had different parents. I wish I had _no_ parents. I wouldn't get in trouble for doing one little thing wrong when no one even got hurt."

Kurt bit down on his bottom lip, and Blaine looked at Rory as if he'd never seen him before. "He doesn't know what he's talking about," Kurt whispered, turning away from his son and grabbing his husband's hand for comfort.

"Rory," Blaine said. His voice was strained, as if he wanted to yell but refrained. It wouldn't help anything. "You will go to your room _right now_ and stay there until Kurt and I come in tomorrow morning. Pee out of the _window_ for all I care, but for God's sake, listen to me just this once."

Rory fought with himself for a moment before slamming his door behind him. Away from his parents gaze, he let the tears fall. He felt horrible about the things that he had said. He hadn't meant half of them, but he'd been frustrated. He had never done anything wrong in his entire _life_ and now that he had, they were acting like it was the end of the world.

Rory fell asleep that night, still suited up in his leprechaun costume and with tears in his eyes.

* * *

><p>"Rory Leprechaun." Rory moaned as the voice roused him from sleep. "Wake up, Rory Leprechaun. We'll be late and I don't want to waste a wish on getting to school on time."<p>

"What are you talking about?" Rory mumbled groggily. He opened his eyes halfway, and a blonde head swam into his vision. "Why are you here? I thought my dads were going to talk to me."

"Leprechauns have dads?" Brittany asked. "Where is your accent, Rory Leprechaun?"

Rory opened his eyes fully and surveyed his aunt critically. "Whoa," he said slowly. "You're…you're…whoa." She was gorgeous. Of course, Rory had always known that she was pretty, for an old person, but now she was _beautiful_. "Aunt Brittany…what's…where am I?" The room wasn't familiar, and Rory's heart started to race.

"You're being really confusing right now," Brittany said slowly, "and I haven't even had breakfast yet. Your accent sounds totally fake, too. It's ridiculous." Rory gaped at her. "You're lucky I picked out your first outfit." She gestured to an ensemble that looked almost exactly like his costume. "I mean, I know that no one else can see you, because you're my leprechaun." Rory nodded, not sure what else there was to say. "Get dressed. My mom made green eggs and ham. I helped…did you know that you can't eat an egg straight out of the egg?" Rory stared at her. "I mean, you can eat an orange straight out of the orange, or the filling straight out of an Oreo." She looked at Rory expectantly.

"That's…okay, it makes sense…I guess."

"Then she'll take us to McKinley."

"McKinley," Rory repeated slowly. It was where his dads, aunts, and uncles had graduated from. He couldn't be in Ohio, though. He'd just fallen asleep in New York. Then again…Brittany looked only eighteen or so, like she had in old pictures, and she was talking about her mom. It couldn't be possible…could it?"

"Ay, I'll be down in a minute," Rory said in his fake Irish accent, to test his theory. Brittany beamed and bounced out of the room.

Rory tried to calm his racing mind. He was in Lima, Ohio, about to have his first day at McKinley High. He was a…leprechaun? No, that couldn't be true. It was the type of thing that Brittany alone would think.

Numbly, Rory started getting dressed. He must be someone with an Irish accent, an exchange student probably. It would be easy enough to find out.

* * *

><p>Half an hour later, Rory got out of Mrs. Pierce's car at the high school. "Don't forget your schedule," she called, waving a piece of paper at Rory. "Have a nice first day!" Rory nodded, overwhelmed.<p>

Brittany took his arm and began to walk. "I can't wait to tell all of my friends in glee club that I have my very own leprechaun."

"Right," Rory said, feeling sick. This was a dream. It was a really vivid nightmare and he would wake up at any moment. Until then, he would just have to live out the dream. What could it hurt, after all, since none of it was real?

"So, I was thinking about my wishes," Brittany started, "and I'm not sure I'm ready to make that kind of decision yet."

"Just…think about it," Rory said.

"If you get my pot-o-gold after all three wishes, I want them to be really good." Rory had no idea what she was talking about, or what basis it came from. In this dream or whatever it was, Brittany had met him before. At least, she thought that she had met him before. Had he promised her money? She seemed to have a million things worked out that he was completely lost about, which was something new.

"Okay, I have to go to my first class, but you can shrink down to normal leprechaun size and sit in my locker if you want," Brittany offered.

"I…think I'll stay the way I am," Rory said. "Your mom gave me a schedule…"

"A leprechaun schedule," Brittany said, raising her eyebrows. "I wrote her the rough draft in crayon. Like, at ten o'clock you have cookie making in a magical tree."

"I think those are elves," Rory said, but Brittany had waved at some other dark haired cheerleader and ran toward her. Rory didn't spare them a second glance. Rather, he looked at the paper Mrs. Pierce had given him. He wasn't familiar with leprechaun schedules, but he thought that Chemistry and Algebra II were a pretty normal American classes.

"Kurt!" A familiar voice called out his father's name and Rory spun around on the spot. In the numb shock of the strange dream he was having, Rory had completely forgotten that if this was his parents' high school, his parents would _be_ there.

"Oh my God, what are you…oh!" Rory turned to the speaker as her sentence faded into one of disappointment. He looked at her eagerly. Surely Rachel, of all his family – or the group that was as good as family – would recognize him. "I thought you were someone I knew."

"Kurt Hummel?" Rory asked eagerly.

"Yes," Rachel said, brow dipping in confusion. "Are you an exchange student?"

"What…oh, uh…yes." After talking to Brittany and her mother for so long, he hadn't even thought about not using his fake accent.

"Well, sorry about this," Rachel said, looking at him as if he was the one who had inconvenienced her. "You look like someone I know. Although, I suppose that he wouldn't…" She cleared her throat pointedly and looked away from his garish outfit. "Never mind."

"Wait!" Rory called after her. "This is my first day here. Do you know where room…221 is? Chemistry?"

Rachel's face brightened. Rory knew her well enough to know that it was the look she got at prospect of having knowledge he didn't. "Go left, then right, past the entrance to the indoor gym, straight until you reach the cafeteria on the right, through the doors that lead into the courtyard, back into the hall in the southwest corner, go right, and then just continue until you get to 221." Rachel smiled brightly and walked away with Rory gaping after her.

"I can figure this out," he muttered to himself as he started walking in the general direction on the classroom.

He was five minutes late for his first class. There was assigned seating and an even number of students before he came, so Rory was left sans lab partner. "Do you want to triple up with some other students?" the teacher asked.

Rory looked out over the students. They were bent over microscopes and petri dishes. None of them even looked up, though the teacher had been speaking loudly. "Or you can work on your own," the teacher continued. "If we get a new student, you'll have a lab partner."

"That's fine," Rory said quickly. He had _never_ been the one who wasn't picked first. He was always elected team captain, or was picked first on the field in P.E. He had made it onto the varsity soccer team in his freshman year. He was, for lack of a better word, _cool_.

He walked toward an open lab table self-consciously. He sat in his chair and made to scoot it closer to the table, but something was hindering him. Gut sinking, he stood straight and felt the butt of his pants being conspicuously pulled on. Rory looked at his seat, where a huge wad of pink gum was smeared across the plastic and had a long strand running to the back of his pants.

A group of boys started laughing, and Rory looked at them incredulously. They were burly and clad in letterman jackets. "Whoops," one of them said to a background of cackles from his friends. "Better start watching where you sit, Irish. Wouldn't want to sit on one of your little leprechaun buddies."

Rory raised an eyebrow. That didn't even make sense, which proved that the bully's IQ must be somewhere south of fifteen. "I'll keep my eye out for them," Rory said with a mocking smile, "because if _you_ sat on one, it would surely get lost somewhere up there."

"What did you say to me?" the bully asked, puffing up his chest. Rory shook his head and tried to pick as much gum as he could off of his pants. "You better watch it, Irish." Rory closed his eyes. It _was_ a nightmare. His only solace was that it would soon be over and he would be back in New York. He would almost gladly listen to his parents yell at him if it meant that this horrible dream was over.

* * *

><p>One period later, Rory was hastily making his way away from the Chemistry classroom and back to Brittany's locker. She seemed to be the only one who knew him in this dream, and even if she did think he was a leprechaun, it was better than being repeatedly hit with spit wads for an hour and a half.<p>

The sight of her standing with her goofy pen by her locker made Rory smile. He put his ridiculous hat on and quickly walked up to her. "Happy morning, Brittany," he said, beaming. For some reason, he didn't want her to know what had happened. He wanted her to think that everything was fine. He wanted her magical vision of him to stay intact for as long as possible.

She looked toward him with a smile and leaned in. "Okay, first of all, you look magical and amazing," she whispered. Rory smiled indulgently. She couldn't possibly have forgotten that she picked out his outfit, could she have? "But I don't understand what you're saying, so if you want to make it in this land, you really need to speak English." Rory glanced away, confused. Not very many hours ago she had been berating his American accent for sounding ridiculous, even though it was his _real_ voice. "How's your first day at school?"

Her question shocked him back into his façade. He grinned even larger as he hitched his bag onto his shoulder. "Ah, it's grand," he lied, averting his eyes.

"Hey, Irish," came a familiar voice. Rory tensed, prepared for something horrible, but all the bully did was hit his hat from the back and laugh cruelly as he walked away.

Brittany looked shocked, and for a happy moment Rory thought that she would call the bully out like she had so many times before in his experience. "Wait," she said, picking up his hat. "Other people can see you?" She looked around, stunned, and Rory's heart sunk in disappointment. She wasn't going to say anything. "But only because you let them see you?"

"That's right," Rory said with the same overwrought smile.

Brittany laughed in relief. "I thought about it a lot, and I know what I want as my first wish." Rory narrowed his eyes in a mix of amusement and suspicion. "Your magical race, they make my favorite cereal, Lucky Charms." Rory nodded. "I really wish that you would make me a box of Lucky Charms with _all_ marshmallows."

Rory raised his eyebrows. What was he supposed to say to that? If this was a dream, and he was certain that it was, getting a box of cereal-less Lucky Charms wouldn't be too difficult. In the meantime, it wouldn't hurt to practice his improvisation skills. "You're in luck," he said, glancing around for people listening. "Lucky the Leprechaun happens to be my cousin, and he lives two toadstools down." He almost rolled his eyes. No one in their right mind would buy that, but Brittany smiled excitedly.

"Thank you!" she said, leaning up and pressing a kiss to his cheek. "Though I don't understand most of what you just said." Rory blinked at her in disbelief as she handed him back his hat and walked away. "Work on it."

As soon as she was gone, a large group of hockey jersey clad, mullet wearing students passed him in a jeering group. "Go back to _Mexico_." One of the hockey players shoved Rory backwards into the locker, and they all moved on, laughing.

What had been almost a good mood faded entirely as they walked away. How could anyone get _amusement_ by causing another person pain? He looked after them with a crestfallen expression. Any moment now, he would wake up. Any moment.

* * *

><p>During his free period, Rory walked to the corner store and bought a box of Lucky Charms. As long as he was dreaming, he might as well play along, and there had been money in his messenger bag. He went into a deserted classroom at the start of lunch and dumped out the cereal onto a desk to start separating the marshmallows from the cereal bits.<p>

Not long into his task, a voice said, "Hey!" Rory looked up to see Finn standing there – Finn, his uncle, whom he had seen just last night. He looked young, and had no stubble on his face. His Daddy obviously hadn't infiltrated Finn's wardrobe yet to make it more "professional", because he wore a simple t-shirt and striped sweatshirt.

Rory couldn't help it when his eyes went wide and he stood up in his chair. Maybe, just _maybe_ Finn would recognize him. "Finn Hudson," he whispered hopefully, looking at his uncle.

Finn leaned back in surprise. "You…know who I am?"

Rory kept the disappointment off of his face and thought fast. Judging by what he'd gleaned from talking to Brittany, this must be Finn's senior year. Rory dug through his memory archive. How would he have known who Finn was? "I've seen you on YouTube, losing glee club Nationals after tongue kissing your girlfriend for ten minutes." He had heard the story a million times before, and it was the first thing he thought of. It also reminded him that Aunt Rachel and Uncle Finn had once dated – _gross_.

"Uh," Finn said, looking away.

"I'm a big, big fan," Rory continued, refraining from bursting into laughter. This was turning out to be more fun than he had thought it would be, when he wasn't getting pushed into lockers.

"Thanks," Finn said, approaching him. Rory continued to stare, eyes wide, because it was just so _strange_ seeing his uncle young and casual. He bet that if he got them fake IDs and asked to go to a bar in New York now, Finn would have _no_ problem with it. "At ease." Finn's words shocked Rory back into reality – at least, quasi-reality.

Finn eyed him as if he was from another planet as they sat down. "So," he said. "Who are you?" He asked the question like it was an accusation – as if Rory didn't belong there.

"Me name's Rory Flanagan," he said, recalling the last name the Chemistry teacher had used during roll. He went back to sorting the cereal. "I'm a foreign exchange student from Ireland, and I love everything about America." The story flowed easily from his lips. It would be easier than saying: _and I love everything about Taiwan_. At least he had knowledge off which to base the former interest on. "Especially NASCAR, your half-black president, and Victoria's Secret catalogues." Rory thought that he should get some sort of medal for recalling those sorts of things…well, at least the middle one. He had a stash of Victoria's Secret catalogues stashed under his bed at home. With a pang of nostalgia, Rory remembered that Finn had given them to him on his fifteenth birthday, when his parents had been out of the room.

"Cool, me too," Finn said with a smile. Rory beamed in return. Maybe not much was different, after all.

"I'm staying at the home of Brittany S. Pierce, and she thinks I'm a leprechaun." Rory smiled conspiratorially. At home, he and Finn would make little jokes together all the time.

"Yeah, she's kind of like Rain Man with boobs," Finn said.

Rory raised his eyebrows and kept sorting. That wasn't true, he wanted to retort. Unless Brittany could cheat at cards and count a million toothpicks in half a second. "She said if I grant her three wishes, I could get into her pot-o-gold." The meaning of Brittany's words had hit him suddenly during Chemistry. Pot-o-gold had _nothing_ to do with money.

It was a strange battle of morals that had followed. Harmony had said that he didn't have a girlfriend because he didn't take chances. Brittany was not only his honorary aunt, but one of his best friend's _mother_. At the same time, this was way before any of that and she was almost the same age as him. He might as well take the chance. He was, after all, living a vivid dream.

"Her first wish was for an all-marshmallow box of Lucky Charms," Rory informed Finn.

"Ah," Finn said, lifting a hand in understanding.

"I really want to snog her." The words were gone before Rory could stop them, and he was mortified. This wasn't really _Brittany_, he justified. It was a girl of his imagination who had blonde hair and a familiar oval-shaped head. Finn raised his eyebrow. "I'm still a virgin," Rory clarified. Words were coming from him left and right. Maybe he felt comfortable saying those things because Finn was his uncle. Not inclined to go to either of his fathers for girl advice, Finn had always been the one he had spoken to back home.

"Have you made any friends yet?" Finn asked unexpectedly.

Rory looked away and focused intently on the cereal. "Not really," he said tightly, "except for Brittany." A wave of nostalgia hit him. "I'm really lonely, you know. I thought…America…was all about different, unique people coming together and accepting one another." That's what his dads, aunts, and uncles had said about glee club. So far, Rory had seen none of that at McKinley.

"That's a pretty old brochure, dude," Finn said with a wry smile.

Rory pressed his lips together. Though dream-Finn didn't know it, it was almost like talking to Uncle Finn. "I could really use some more friends." Not having any was a foreign feeling. "Would you be my friend, Finn?" Rory asked, a genuine smile crossing his face as he looked at his uncle hopefully.

Finn balked. "Whoa, whoa…"

"It would be an honor."

Finn looked around self-consciously. "Look, in America, dudes don't ask dudes to be their friends…except on Facebook, but even then it can take years." Rory smirked. Young Finn really was as spacy as his dads always said.

They settled into an awkward silence until Finn said, "Okay. I'll be your friend, but first you've got to help me." Rory's smile grew as Finn began to help him sort through the cereal. "One of the best singers in glee club quit recently and there's talk of more defections. You're staying at Britt's house, right?" Rory nodded. "If you hear anything let me know."

Rory nodded and looked over at his uncle. "I will."

"Alright!" Finn said enthusiastically.

Rory beamed at him as he gathered up his things. "Thanks."

"No problem. See you around."

"Finn Hudson," Rory said as Finn began to walk away. "That's Irish, right?" Their entire extended family had been to Ireland once, when Rory was eight. It was where he'd learned his fake accent, and Finn had said something about their names reflecting their Irish heritage.

"Nah," Finn said with a chuckle. "No, my mom's from Toledo." He waved awkwardly and walked away. Rory chuckled in spite of himself. Young Finn still had a lot to learn apparently.

Rory's brow drew together as he realized that he was treating 'Finn' as if he would really grow up to be Rory's Finn. It just _had_ to be a dream…but it felt so real.

Rory went through the rest of the day in a strange haze. As the hour got later, he got more nervous. When Brittany went to glee practice, Rory walked to her house. His parents would be at glee club practice too. They would see Rory, but they wouldn't _see_ him. If everyone else was any indication, they wouldn't know who he was. Rory didn't know if he could take that, not yet at least.

As night approached, Rory grew from nervous to downright frightened. He wasn't waking up. Could you go to sleep in a dream? Then again, this was like no dream he had ever had before. This felt _real_. He'd felt pain when the bully had pushed him into the locker, and he had the angry red mark to prove that it had happened. Didn't pain wake you up from a dream?

He had to consider the possibility that he wasn't dreaming. Rory didn't know how it happened, but what he was going through might just be real. His Papa said it enough: when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. Sherlock Holmes had said that, and his Papa advised to _always_ listen to Sherlock's advice. It was becoming increasingly impossible that he was dreaming, which left only one possibility.

That night, Rory went to bed uneasy.

* * *

><p>He woke up groggy and confused to a blaring alarm clock. He <em>never<em> set an alarm clock. His Daddy always came in singing "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning", because he knew how much Rory loved Frank Sinatra.

Suddenly, the memories from the day before came flooding back, and Rory wanted to cry. He wanted to go home. He wanted to hear Seamus's annoying chirpy voice first thing in the morning as he ate his Fruit Loops. He wanted to hear his dads singing softly in perfect harmony as they performed the perfectly choreographed dance that was making their children lunches for school. Daddy always gave him a container of assorted organic berries, a wheat bread sandwich with the crust cut off, and a smoothie in a thermos. Papa always snuck him chips, wrapped a turkey panini with pesto sauce in tinfoil, and gave him a bottle of organic apple juice.

He didn't want to drive to school in Ohio with a family that wasn't even his. He didn't want Brittany to ask if he wanted four-leafed clovers for lunch. He didn't want to see his parents and have them not recognize him. He wanted to go _home_.

Grudgingly, he dragged himself out of bed. He grabbed the first green thing he saw and threw it on. He was considerably down for the entire beginning of the day. He went to his morning classes without conviction or enthusiasm. He had the box of marshmallow Lucky Charms in his bag to give to Brittany the next time he saw her. After his late morning classes, he looked through his bag thoroughly for the first time.

His heart raced as he found a cellphone. Could he reach anyone on it? He quickly called his home phone, then his Daddy's phone, and then his Papa's phone, but none of the calls went through. It had been a long shot anyway. He looked sadly at his phone as he walked toward Brittany's locker, where he hoped to find her.

A hand flew through the crowd, grabbed Rory's phone, and tossed it to the ground. He signed resignedly as it clattered to the floor. It hadn't been an accident. He picked it up and inspected it for damage. Reassured that it was fine, he turned toward Brittany's locker.

He started smiling as he pulled out the cereal. Her reaction would make whatever harassing he had to go through worth it. Rory had always liked to make people happy. It was one of the things he hated most about having to be the wet blanket in Harmony's and Sugar's plans.

She gasped in wonder as he held up the box. "One all-marshmallow box of Lucky Charms," he said, "as requested."

"This is magic," Brittany breathed. "Oh my God…" She smiled up at him and reached to hug him. "Thank you so much, Rory Leprechaun. You know, now you're only like two wishes away from getting my pot-o-gold." Rory smiled and nodded uncertainly. "I have another story to tell you." She took his arm and started walking. "Every night I feed Lord Tubbington nougat and sprinkles, and then I rub his belly seven times with glitter sticks. So far, nothing works."

Rory turned toward her, confused. "You do that, because…"

"I want Lord Tubbington to poop candy bars," Brittany confided. Rory blinked and smiled confusedly. "What? Does everybody wish for that or something?"

"Brittany," Rory said, desperate to change to subject. How would he get a cat to poop _candy_? "I was wondering if maybe you'd like to do dinner tonight."

"Aw," she crooned. "I can't, I have plans with a friend. And you're not supposed to eat anything but four-leaved clovers anyways, so." She leaned in and kissed his cheek again before walking to her next class. Rory looked after her with a smile as she walked away. He liked teenaged Brittany, he really did. "Thanks."

He turned away with the smile still on his face. It was quickly wiped away when a hockey player shoved him so hard that he flew into the wall and lost the grip on his bag. Rory grimaced and stiffened his upper lip.

He closed his eyes briefly and flashed back to a song his Papa used to sing to him. Under his breath, Rory started to sing along to his memory.

_It's not that easy, being green_

_Having to spend each day the color of the leaves_

_When I think it could be nicer being red_

_Or yellow, or gold, or something much more colorful like that_

He shook his head at the people he passed. Many of them had seen what happened, and yet no one said a thing. He couldn't recall things being like that at his old school. Were they scared to speak up against the bullies or did they just not care? Or, even worse, did they actually enjoy seeing him victimized, like they took some pleasure from the reassurance that they weren't at the bottom of the food chain?

_It's not that easy, being green_

_It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things_

_And people tend to pass you over_

'_Cause you're not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water_

_Or stars in the sky_

In the cafeteria, people pushed by him and cut in line as if they couldn't even see him. Every stolen spoonful of food or shove brought Rory's spirits lower and lower.

_But green's the color of spring_

_And green can be cool and friendly like_

_And green can be big, like an ocean_

_Or important, like a mountain_

_Or tall, like a tree_

_When green is all there is to be_

_It can make you wonder_

_But why wonder? Why wonder?_

_I'm green, and that'll do fine_

_And it's beautiful_

_And I think it's what I want to be_

* * *

><p>Rory sat alone at a bench for lunch. Brittany was at the inside cafeteria with Santana. Rory hadn't spoken to Santana directly yet, but without the bonds of family tying them, she wasn't very nice. She'd been shooting him dirty looks every day since he first arrived.<p>

"Rory." Rory looked up as someone called his name.

"Hello?" he asked quietly. There was no one around. Disconcerted, for he had definitely heard something, he stood up and looked around. His eyes widened as they fixed on a familiar figure. He'd only seen her once, but he felt like he knew her. "You," Rory whispered. His fake accent had disappeared in his shock. "How are you here? What's going on? Where am I?"

"Don't you know?" she asked. It was the mysterious woman from the bar. He still couldn't fix his eye on her.

"Yes…no…I don't know," Rory said, frustrated. "All of my aunts and uncles that went to McKinley…I'm with them, living their high school life. I don't understand. How is this possible?"

"Anything's possible," she said with a mysterious smile.

"You did this, then?" Rory asked. Her silence was confirmation. "Why? Is it because of…what I said?"

"You wished that you could be alone, so that you could prove yourself to your family."

Rory flailed his arms hopelessly. "I didn't know what I was saying," he said. "I'd been drinking weird colored drinks and you put some…some _spell_ over me so that I would just say _anything_. I'm just," his voice broke mid-sentence. "I'm just a kid, and I want to go home."

"It's too late," she said. "It doesn't work like that. You wished for a chance, Rory, and you got one. It doesn't happen to everybody. You have to live it out. You're here for a reason. Think about it. You know why that is."

"I don't know," said Rory. His eyes began to tear up. "Uncle Finn said something about how…how he wished I knew how good I had it. He said that I had no idea what my parents and all of them went through when they were my age." The woman nodded. "That's it? I have to learn about my dads' high school years?"

"There's something else," she said. "The first part is to fulfill what you wished for. The second part is to gain understanding of what you're ignorant of. The third will come, in time. You'll know it when it happens."

"In time?" Rory asked miserably. "How long will I be here?" She smiled and shook her head. "Fine, fine…who are you, then?"

"A guide," she said, "for you and your friends."

Rory's eyebrows flew up. "Me and my…my _friends_?" He gaped at her. "You can't mean Harmony and Sugar?"

"They've been here longer than you," she said. "They've been waiting."

"Waiting?" Rory asked frantically. "Where? Where are they?"

"One walks these halls even as we speak," she said slowly. "The other is in Defiance."

"Harmony," Rory muttered, knowing it was true even as he said it. The woman smiled. "Wait, is that a place?" He shook his head. "Never mind, how do I reach them?"

"The most obvious way, I would assume." Her eyes flicked down to his pocket, where he had tucked his phone. Rory followed her gaze, but when he looked back up, she was gone.

Hurriedly, he took out his phone. It wouldn't do to call Harmony yet if she wasn't at McKinley. He keyed in Sugar's number and listened with baited breath as it rang.

"_Rory_?"

* * *

><p><em>AN: I hope everybody enjoyed chapter two! :D Leave me a review and let me know what you thought! Thanks for reading!_


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Sorry updates take so long, guys! Usually, I write out chapters of my stories in school notebooks when I have breaks between classes (it's actually startling - if I die and people find my notebooks, they'll be shocked to find that half of my seeming school notes are actually various Klaine smut drabblings and fanfiction sections). But I can't really do that with this story, because I want it to line up with canon almost ver batim, and therefore have to actually load the show, skim it for all the parts with Rory, then write down everything everyone says in the scene, and THEN actually write it, so it takes longer than other stories, haha :P_

_That said, I hope that doesn't deter you from wanting to read this further, because I really do love writing it! _

_Enjoy!_

* * *

><p><em>"Rory<em>?"

"Sugar?"

"_Rory!_"

"Sugar, oh my God, it's you. Thank _God_." Rory could have wept from relief. Finally there was someone who knew him. In this crazy, mixed up fantasy which he was steadfastly refraining from calling _real_, he'd found an anchor.

"_Finally! Where are you_?"

"Uh…" Rory looked around. "I actually have no idea. I'll try to find you."

"_I'm in the cafeteria," _Sugar said.

"I'll be there in a mo'." He quickly began to walk in the direction he thought led to the cafeteria.

_"Oh and Rory?"_

"Hmm?"

_ "You sound like an _idiot_. Cut it out!"_

Rory rolled his eyes. "I'll explain when I see you."

Ten minutes later, Rory had found the cafeteria. "Rory!" Sugar called his name and waved.

Upon seeing her, Rory's heart soared. She was there. Sugar. _His_ Sugar, from the world they both belonged to. She wasn't just a voice on the phone. She was _real_. He ran over to her and threw his arms around her in a hug. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you."

_"You're_ glad to see me?" she said, pulling back and fixing him with a critical gaze. "I've been here for weeks. Harmony is busy being the immediate golden child of her new school while I'm stuck here being treated like a pariah. This school _sucks_, Rory, no one knows how awesome I am here."

"Oh Sugar," Rory sympathized, hugging her again. He was too pleased to be with her again to separate too far from her, as if more than a few feet would see him on his own again. They sat down together at a table in the corner of the room. "I know what you mean. I've been here for a few days, and look at this." He lifted up the side of his shirt to show her the reddish purple bruise blossoming on his side.

Sugar gasped and leaned in closer. She ran her fingers over the purpling skin lightly. "Rory…"

"I've been getting pushed into lockers," Rory said, putting his shirt back.

"No kidding," she said, looking him up and down. "You never changed out of your Halloween costume."

"It's like some sick cosmic joke," Rory complained, leaning closer and waving his hands around in front of himself dramatically. "I never changed out of it. I got in a big fight with my dads when I got home, and I just went to bed with it on." He lowered his voice. "I woke up in a strange house with a girl who thought I was a leprechaun." It sounded like the most horribly constructed daytime television movie plot he had ever heard.

Sugar let out a prolonged gasp. She started bouncing in her seat and pointing at him frantically. "You're, you're, you're…you're my mom's Irish exchange student!"

"Yes," Rory said, simply grateful to have someone to agree with for the first time since he'd been there. "You've met your moms, then?"

Sugar nodded. "Santana wants to join the Trouble Tones with me."

"Trouble Tones? Are you talking about the glee club? I thought it was called the New Directions or something…wait, _you're_ in a glee club?" Sugar hadn't inherited either of her mothers' voices. The subject had never been an issue before because Sugar had never shown an interest in singing like Rory and Harmony had. She'd insisted that her flair for the dramatic shouldn't be wasted on show choirs, especially in LA. She'd focused on dramatic theatre instead.

She rolled her eyes. "_Yes_. I wanted to join to be with my moms…things didn't work out. Like I said, no one _appreciates_ me here. So I bought my own glee club. I'm rich here, Rory."

"Awesome," Rory said dryly.

"Haven't you met Kurt and Blaine yet?"

Rory groaned as she asked the question, and leaned his forehead on the tabletop. "I've been staunchly avoiding interaction. Isn't it horrible? You have to call your moms by their first names. They don't even recognize you! I don't want my dads to see me and not know who I am."

Sugar rolled her eyes. "That's the fun of it, Rory! They don't know us. They don't remember anything we've done. What's better – they're actually cool. Well, my parents are. They don't act like my moms."

Rory didn't say what he was thinking. He didn't say that he didn't care one lick that he was a sixteen year old boy. He just wanted to curl up on his couch at home while his Daddy softly sang to him and his Papa hummed along while making tea in the other room. He didn't _want_ to call them Kurt and Blaine. He just wanted his family back, and if that made him a wet blanket, then so be it.

"Maybe it's better," Sugar mused.

Roy lifted his head and looked over at her. "What do you mean?"

She looked at him meaningfully. "When I said that my parents are cool, I meant that _my_ parents are cool."

Rory crossed his arms over his chest, unknowingly taking up a defensive position. "My dads aren't cool?"

"In New York they're cool," Sugar said hurriedly, "in 2033. This is Ohio, at the end of 2011." She shrugged. "I'm not the _only_ pariah."

Rory's face fell. "My dads are…_pariahs_?" His dads? Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson? His dads, who were always so confident? Who were the envy of all their friends for their almost perfect marriage, intelligent children, and beautiful home? _His_ dads? "W-what do you mean?"

"I mean that three quarters of this school are _homophobic_." Sugar whispered the last word like it was a dirty curse, which it suddenly seemed like. "They're both out of the closet."

"B-but what about your moms?"

Sugar's face grew troubled and she shrugged, attempting nonchalance. "I don't think people know. I don't think they want them to know."

They sat in silence for several moments. "At least we know that it all turns out okay," Rory said quietly.

"Yeah," Sugar agreed, at equal volume. "To be fair though, Rory, you really should see your dads. They're _adorable_. I don't know why this stupid school can't see that."

Rory's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?" He felt like he'd been asking that more than usual.

"I mean they're just _cute_. They dress differently than they do with us. I mean," Sugar scrunched up her nose, "in the future, I guess. They look so _young_, everyone does. And I saw them kissing in a shadowy corner the other day – probably so no one could see, so much for that. It was so _cute._" She clapped her hands together and practically squealed the last word.

"_Ew_," Rory complained, screwing up his face and thumping his head on the table once more. "Gross, cut it out." He preferred to think of his parents as wholly asexual beings, no matter how irrational that might have been. Hell, they hadn't even had to get intimate to make him, as a heterosexual couple usually did. He'd been made in a petri dish and sent straight into Santana. He didn't want to hear about them making out in a hallway.

"I'm _sorry_," Sugar said, not sounding sorry at all. "But it's true. You should see them, Rory. I think it would make you feel better."

"You're awfully cheerful, for the school's newest social pariah," Rory said dryly. The newest at least, until he got there. "I did see Uncle Finn. I'm not sure I'm pulling off this whole being Irish thing. I've been doing some pretty weird things."

"Like?"

Rory flushed. "This and that," he said evasively. He wasn't inclined to tell her that one of her mothers had promised him her pot-o-gold. "It doesn't matter. People will know."

"They will _not," _Sugar said vehemently. "You have that accent down perfectly. As for getting away with being Irish, try twisting the truth a little bit instead of lying outright. That works for me. When you can't do that, hell, just make something up. I don't think _Finn_, for instance, would be able to tell."

Rory shook his head, though he was smiling. "That's not very nice," he said, fighting back a laugh.

The lunch bell rang, signaling the end of break and their conversation. "I'm glad we're here together," Rory told her as they gathered their things. "I mean, it would have been better if all three of us were here. I don't know why we aren't. But I'm glad that I'm not the one out on my own. I'm glad I'm with you."

Sugar smiled and nudged his arm. "Don't get all mushy on me, Hummel-Anderson," she said.

"It's Flanagan now," Rory said, not enjoying the sound of the new name. "What's yours, by the way?"

"Motta. I made it up myself! It was weird, my reality here kind of shaped around it after I had."

"Motta. _Motta_? Sugar Motta?" Rory groaned. "You sound like a stripper. That's the fakest name I've ever heard. People are going to find out at this rate, I just know it."

Sugar shoved his am lightly and turned to go to her next class. "Rory?" she called over her shoulder. Rory looked back at her and she smiled, suddenly looking serious. "I'm glad that I'm here with you, too. I could use your level head right now, really. Keep me grounded, okay?"

Rory nodded, surprised that she'd been willing to open up and be that sincere. He couldn't recollect another time when she had. "Okay," he said quietly, as she turned and walked away.

* * *

><p>Rory jumped as he closed his locker. Santana had snuck up on him so quietly that he hadn't even known that she'd been there. "Do not even think about talking for the next thirty seconds, okay?" she asked. Rory just looked at her with wide eyes. That must have passed her list of acceptable responses, because she continued. "Nod so I know you understand me."<p>

Rory nodded quickly. He'd grown up with Santana, but that was different. This Santana in front of him was downright frightening. "Good. He's the deal, Pixie Boy, you've got a crush on my girl Brittany." Rory wanted to shake his head vehemently and tell her no. He wanted to tell her everything – that they'd get married, that they'd have a daughter, and that he had come out of her uterus. Thankfully, he refrained. He didn't think that would have gone over too well.

"I understand," Santana continued, advancing upon him like a lioness. "She's beautiful. She's innocent. She's everything that's good in this miserable, stinking world. Do you agree? Nod." Rory didn't dare do anything otherwise. "Good. Also, she thinks you're a spritely, green, mythological creature, but I know you're a potato-eating poser. But since Brittany likes having a pet Irish, I'm not going to explode you. Here's what's going to go down. Leprechaun, starring a young Jen Aniston is my favorite movie. It learned me two things: one, leprechauns like fixing shoe buckles because they're gay; and two, they grant wishes." She cocked her head and smiled menacingly. "So you're going to grant me a wish." She kept her expression as she walked away, leaving Rory stupefied in her wake.

* * *

><p>Later that day, at the Pierce house, Rory tiptoed into Brittany's room. He couldn't believe he was still going along with this asinine delusion, but he needed to one last time for Santana's sake. He unwrapped two candy bars and laid them in the litter box Brittany had in her room.<p>

The door opened behind him and he looked up to see Brittany with Lord Tubbington. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," Rory blabbed, standing up straight. "What are you doing?"

"Lord Tubbington snuck out and I found him at Arby's," she said, walking toward him. "How did you get into my room?"

The door had been unlocked, and he'd walked over the threshold. "I blinked," Rory said. For effect, he blinked again. "Look." She looked down at the litter box where he had set the candy. "I made your wish come true."

"Look," she instructed her cat. She gaped, and Rory couldn't help but chuckle. She dropped Lord Tubbington to the ground and picked up a candy. "Oh my God, you did it, leprechaun! Yum," she hummed, going to sit on her bed.

Rory watched her with trepidation. He wouldn't have eaten a candy bar that he thought had come out of a cat, no matter how yummy it looked. "Lord Tubbington's poops are crispy and delicious," she remarked, breaking him off half.

"Brittany," Rory said, changing the subject. He twiddled the candy in his hand, even faked taking a bite for her sake, but soon gave up on it. "I've got something to tell you. You're not the only one who knows about me."

"What do you mean?" she asked quietly.

"Santana found out about my secret, and she only had one wish."

Brittany lowered her eyes. "Okay…what was it?"

Rory sighed. "She wished for you to leave the New Directions," he said quickly, "and join the all new girl's singing group."

Brittany fidgeted, and finally stood. "I don't know what to do," she said, lifting her hands in hopelessness. "I love the glee club, and I don't want to abandon my friends, but…if you wish on a leprechaun, it has to come true."

"And with just one wish," Rory said, repeating what Santana has instructed him to say, "it _definitely_ has to come true."

"Why couldn't she have just wished for Lord Tubbington to quit smoking?" she asked. "That's it then. I have to leave the New Directions."

Rory left her room feeling guilty, and he didn't even know why. One thing he did know was that he had to tell everything to Finn. He'd made a deal, and now it was time to deliver.

* * *

><p>The bell ending lunch rung during his confession to Finn the next day. Rory went to his next class – Algebra II – and sat alone the entire time. He'd caught himself smiling in class as he'd had a memory of his trials with Algebra II class in New York, only a month prior:<p>

"_Daddy?" Rory had tiptoed into the room that served as both of his fathers' combined study. Blaine was gone, but Kurt was home, head bent over something that looked an awful lot like Vogue, but he had pushed tax files over it to make it look like he was working._

"_What's up, Rory?"_

"_I was wondering if you could help me with something." He entered the study, notebooks in hand._

_Kurt blanched as he saw the books but he nodded. "I'll…give it a shot."_

_Rory proceeded to explain what he was having trouble with. Kurt looked at the problem for several moments, his brow furrowed in concentration, before he burst out laughing. "What's so funny?" Rory asked, feeling self-conscious. Was it so easy that he was making a fool of himself? "I already know I'm doing it wrong."_

"_No, that isn't it," Kurt said, waving his hand. He caught his son's gaze. "I have a confession to make. Once you hit eighth grade, I stopped being able to help you with your math homework."_

"_But you helped me last year with Geometry…"_

"_I Googled it," Kurt confessed. "It's so embarrassing. You're smarter than me now, bud. It's time for me to face the music."_

Rory had started smiling in class, and had promptly been called out by his bully, who seemed to be in every one of his class.

"Don't you have anything better to do than follow me around tormenting me?" Rory asked heatedly as the group of bullies followed him out of the room, throwing around insults.

"Nothing better than putting a little Irish squirt in his place," one of them said. "Now, what should we have you do?"

"I got it," another one said. "Say that U2 is overrated."

"_What_?" Rory asked. He shook his head only to deny them.

"Say it."

"No."

A pair of hands flipped him around. They lifted him several inches off the ground and held him to the locker. Rory looked back at them, startled and bewildered. "Say U2 is overrated," he instructed angrily. Rory shook his head minutely and the bully shoved a pointing finger into Rory's face. "_Say it_."

"Never," Rory said, squirming in their grasp.

"Hey!" A sharp call rang through the hall. "Leave him alone."

One of the bullies turned to look. The others held Rory fast. He looked up to see Finn walking toward them quickly. "Or what, pig skin?" the bully asked. "You're going to run crying to Mr. Schue? Oh, I'm shaking!"

"No," Finn said, looking at Rory, "not Mr. Schue. Coach Beiste."

The bully's face fell. He looked at Finn for a moment before patting his minion on the back. The minion dropped Rory, who sunk to his feet and leaned his head back against the locker gratefully. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He back hurt where he'd been pushed against the sharp metal of the lockers, and he knew that bruises were already beginning to form.

He sighed and leaned up off the locker. "Thanks, Finn Hudson," he said, stepping toward his yet-to-be-uncle. "I've got no reason to expect you to be nice to me, after I ruined your glee club." He didn't even know what he was doing anymore. All of the adults he loved were at this high school. In the future, they were a unified front, but here they were warring factions. Finn wanted one thing and Santana wanted another. Rory didn't know who to side with.

"I get it," Finn said, waving his hands. "You're just trying to make friends. I know it's not easy being the new kid around school, and not fitting in anywhere." Finn paused. "And when no one stood up for you, I should have stood up for you." A smile pulled at the corner of Rory's mouth. He had been beginning to think that no one, not even his family, would speak out against what was happening, even though everyone was watching it happen right before their faces.

"I'll tell you what," Finn continued, clapping Rory's shoulder. "I know you're not a leprechaun, so I'll grant you a wish…" Finn faded off mysteriously and nudged Rory down the hall.

* * *

><p>Finn explained his plan. Rory was hesitant to agree, but he finally said yes. The next day, they stood together outside of the choir room. "You ready?" Finn asked.<p>

"Yeah," Rory whispered, closing his eyes briefly. This was it. He would see his parents inside for the first time since he came to McKinley. Even more intimidating – he would be singing for them.

As they walked through the door, Rory overheard Rachel's rapid voice. "This is a _disaster_. This is not the way that senior year glee club was supposed to be." A note of guilt twanged in Rory's heart. If she was talking about both Santana and Brittany leaving, that was partially his fault.

"Look guys," said Mr. Schue. Rory had heard many a story about his parents' high school glee coach, but seeing him in person was almost surreal. "I know this is going to be hard. This isn't how I pictured starting out this year, either."

"Then I guess we've got our work cut out for us," Finn said as they stepped farther into the room. Rory inched along behind him. His eyes were drawn to the back row of chairs. Rachel said between them, but there they were: his fathers. His Daddy was looking insanely bored and he blinked exaggeratedly when Finn began to speak. His Papa was looking blankly off at the other side of the room, clearly not interested in the topic at hand. Rory's heart raced, but neither of them turned toward him.

"What happens when the Pope dies?" Finn asked. Rory kept following him. He tried to eye his parents subtly. Maybe if he could just catch their attention, they would vaguely recognize him. They didn't even have to know who he was, Rory thought. He just wanted the smallest spark of possible recognition to flash behind one of their gazes. They still didn't look at him, but remained disinterested and _so_ different from the parents he knew.

"Heaven, you'd think," muttered his Daddy – Kurt, he'd have to start calling him. Rory covered a snicker with his hand. Perhaps these two teenagers weren't _totally_ different than his parents.

"You get a new Pope," Finn said. "There's always new talent to be found – always a new voice – right, Mr. Schue?" Rory's heart started to flutter. If this was his introduction, he sure had a lot to live up to already.

"Yeah," Mr. Schue muttered.

Finn turned back to the group. "Well, everybody, I'd like to introduce my friend." The students all began to sit up a little straighter. Rory couldn't look away from them – he knew them all already, but they looked so different. "Rory Flanagan." Rory beamed as Finn said his name. "He's interested in joining glee club."

Aunt Quinn raised a critical eyebrow. "Can this kid even sing?"

"I sing at Mass every Sunday," Rory offered, trying to keep his voice level. That wasn't exactly true, but it was easier than saying both of his parents had been in a glee club called the New Directions, and that he'd learned how to sing from them. He shrugged. "I love American music."

He set his bag down next to him. "If you don't mind, I'd like to dedicate this song to my family, who I miss so much." His eyes flicked up to Kurt and Blaine, whose attention he now had fully. He had been right. Neither of them recognized him. But why would they?

Finn sat down and offered him an encouraging smile. Rory nodded at the band, and they began to play a slow tune.

_It's time for us to part_

_Yeah, it's best for us to part_

_Oh, but I love you_

_Ooh, ooh, oooh, I love you_

_Take care of yourself_

_I miss you_

_And no more tears to cry_

_I'm out of goodbyes_

Smiles had erupted on the faces of everyone in the room, his parents included, especially Blaine. Rory couldn't help it when a large smile crossed his own face as he sang. They may not recognize him, but they were still his family. Rory was pleased to be the one putting those smiles on their faces.

_It's time for us to part_

_Although it breaks my heart_

_Oh, 'cause I love you_

_Ooh, ooh, oooh, I love you_

_Take care of yourself_

_Take care of yourself_

_Take care of yourself_

Rory had to bite back a giggle when Blaine's eyebrows had risen upon his high note, and Kurt had begun to look visibly distressed. He didn't know what Rory did, which was that it had been Kurt who aided him over many weeks on the road to hitting such a note. Rachel nudged Kurt's arm and he gave her an approving look – approving of _Rory_. Rachel had wanted to get him to admit that he was impressed.

Rory closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, it was almost like he was practicing for one of his music competitions back home. His parents would always call together everyone and have a little party, in which Rory would be the main entertainment. He would practice in front of them, receive all of their praise and constructive criticism, and use it to hone his performance. He looked out onto his Daddy, his Papa, his aunts and uncles, and things were almost the same.

_I love you_

* * *

><p><em>AN: To be continued ;) Rory will have some more scenes with his parents, who will find themselves inexplicably fond of this new Irish exchange student; Kurt will confess to Rory about his qualms with his new competition Sebastian; and Rory finally gets a partner to fill his empty seat in chemistry class._


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